Monday, April 23, 2012

Ha! Blogger just changed things around and now the pictures actually post in the order you selected them, not the reverse order like they used to. So, my pictures are not in the order I planned, but that's ok. It still works. This week's For Fun challenge is Anything Goes. But it is anything goes with a twist! We are supposed to create a project from another craft genre other than card making. I make jewelry as a side business and I actually just finished a custom order for my cousin who is getting married in June. It's a large wedding party: 5 bridesmaids/maids of honor, 2 junior bridesmaids and 4 flower girls (with the added challenge of a metal allergy on one of the flowergirls)! I just finished today. This first picture is of the flowergirls' necklace. It's really not the best picture, it's rather rainy and cloudy outside. But they are really cute with an amethyst colored heart at the center. And not one piece of metal.

The next two pictures show the sets for the bridesmaids (the junior bridesmaids have the same necklace but no earrings). All the crystals are a nice deep amethyst/plum color.

Monday, April 16, 2012

With the gorgeous weather we are having today in the Northeast, a cup of hot chocolate is the last thing on my mind! But the Crimbo Crackers #13 challenge this week is to create a project using festive food. And it wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy, right!? I used the Viva La Verve April week 2 sketch for the layout and DCWV papers. Notice the ski apparel? You definitely need hot chocolate after being outside in the snow! The image a sentiment are 4 separate digital images from the Grab a cup & sentiments digital stamp set from My Time Made Easy. I do NOT use many digital images, but I did actually manage to combine the three images to create the mug scene. Then after I had printed it out, I stamped the snowflake image (from an Inkadinkado Christmas set) and colored the mug with a colored pencil and highlighted the snowflake with a glitter pen. I used the Charming Ovals die from Verve to frame the sentiment.

If you are singing along with the title of this post, that's the idea! This week's Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challene #68 is Let's have a Sing song: create a card inspired by a Christmas song. Now, that was a tough one for me, but I so love this set "Home is Where the Hearth Is" from Clear Dollar Stamps and was thinking about the fireplace when that phrase came to me: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." I also added a musical score background stamp (from Skipping Stones Design's "Timeless Textures" set) to the small squares after stamping the images. The sentiment in the bottom left (a little hard to see) is from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas." I used the sketch #123 from Skipping Stones Design.

April is birthday month in my family, so I have lots of cards to make! For this card, I used the JUGS #132 challenge: sponging a layer; the Creative Inspirations #158 challenge to use pastel purple, pastel blue, and pastel green and the Our Daily Bread Designs #104 Spring Word challenge (use elements that begin with at least three letters of the word "Spring"); I used "S"-sponging and stamps, "P"-pastel colors, "R"-ribbon, "I"-ink, "N"-nestabilities dies (classic scalloped circle, large and standard circles, large and floral doily motifs), "G"-gems (little blue rhinestones on the main butterfly). I blocked off the center portion and divided it into sections with post-it notes and sponged the different colored strips. In the process, I learned that post-it notes do NOT like to stick to ink! Then I added the flourish from Clear Dollar Stamps' "Elegant Flourishes" set and the butterflies from SU!'s "Sweet Summer" set (a sale-a-bration set) in black ink. Part of the inspiration for this card was the three die cuts I used. They were left overs from another project and fit the color scheme perfectly so I had to use them. The sentiment is from Verve's "Birthday Phrases" and the little dotted line stamped in green underneath is from the CDS flourish set. A little purple butterfly and blue rhinestones finished it off.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

My daughter goes to AWANA (a Bible Club) at a local church and this week was the last meeting. So, I needed to make two little gifts for her leaders. I made a set of simple note cards and matching envelops and used the clear boxes the stamp sets from PTI come in to create these cute little purse/boxes. (Those are the note cards that are the decoration on the front of the purse. Now, see those fun red flowers? I created those for the Make it Monday #61 challenge to create a flower using leaf dies. I wanted to make sure I stuck to the challenge specifics so I did use a leaf die for the base layer of the flower on the left. But while I was looking through my dies, I thought the center from the "0" from the "by the numbers" die set would make really cool petals too; they are the top layer of the left flower. After I had die cute the "0"s I saw that they woul make a really fun loopy flower, hence, the flower on the right. I topped both flowers off with a die cut circle covered in glitter. The picture below shows the two dies I used.

This picture shows the flower created with the "0" die. Isn't it so fun?

Also, I needed a little tag on which to write the message and the For Fun challenge this week was to create a tag.

So, I cut out a tag and stamped the large medallion from "Mehndi Medallion" and "Thank You" from "Through the Trees" both from PTI. I outlined the tag with a black pen (a trick I stole from PTI's Nicole Heady), and something simple and super easy became really elegant. Since the base of the tag is black, I added a small square of white on the backside on which to write.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Another entry for one of Flourishes' release week noontime challenges. This one is to create something related to a book. I always have some kind of book or other reading material half finished, so I chose to go with a bookmark. I started with this awesome verse: Hebrews 11:1 plain jane from Verve. Then I had to look around for an image to go with it 'cause I knew I wanted something behind the verse that wouldn't overpower it. I found this leafy, lacey fern from a set from Flourishes (I don't know the name {someone gave it to me without all the packaging}, but it is full of beautiful fern images) and knew it was perfect. I outlined the bookmark in black pen (a neat tip I learned from Papertrey Ink's Nicole Heady), matted it onto some ripe avocado paper and finished it off with an eyelet and some rip avocado ribbon (PTI).

This is release week for Flourishes, so they have issued a few noontime challenges as part of the fun. One of them was to make a lacely creation. I don't have a lot of lace, but I thought this Mehndi medallion set from PTI looked lacey. I stamped it in white craft ink (SU!) on the black paper. Then I used the Mat Stack #2 die and an image from the matching stamp set, both from PTI. The sentiment is from a Flourishes set, I believe it is called "Line Lines". It fit perfectly in the frame.

I made this card for the Flourishes "Motherly love" challenge. I think I'm just sneeking under the wire. Since I didn't have a lot of time, I decided to keep it simple. The image is from Flourishes' "Paperwhites" set and I colored it in with colored pencils. The sentiment is also from Flourishes: "Motherly Love" I used a spellbinders oval, large die on top of a partial Mat Stack #2 die from PTI. The paper and ribbon are ripe avocado from PTI, also.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Yet another thank you card. Today's card uses the Pretty Pattern #55 sketch from My Time Made Easy. I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. The papers are all from Basic Grey (I think); someone gave me a whole stack and it didn't have any info on it. The large butterfly is a die from PTI and the smaller ones are a Martha Stewart Punch. On the panels the butterflies are mounted on, I used a stamp from the "Timeless Textures" set from Skipping Stones Design and the sentiment is from PTI's "Through the Trees".

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Ok, so I'm a bit late for Easter, but maybe I'm early for next year? Either way, the Creative Inspirations #157 and For Fun challenges these week were both to create an Easter project. I also used the Sweet Stop Sketches #153 sketch (they are celebratin a birthday and let us choose from past sketches; I chose #136), the Our Daily Bread Designs #103 challenge to create a project celebrating new life (the cross is the basis for the new life of a Christian) and the Stampin' Sister in Christ challenge to create a joy-ful card; something celebratory (the resurrection of Jesus is THE most important reason to celebrate). The image and the sentiment are both from the same set by Flourishes (I don't know the name, it was a gift and didn't come with all the packaging) and I used the musical score stamp from Skipping Stones Design's "Timeless Textures" set. After I had the image and sentiment stamped, I felt like the sentiment panel covered up way too much of the image so I lightly stamped and colored the missing part of the image onto the sentiment panel. And it works! I added three Kaiser Kraft droplets in the upper left to add a little something that seemed to be missing.

Still plugging away at the thank you cards. I'm almost finished, though. For this one I used the sketch from Stampin' Sisterhood (they've gone to monthly challenges now, so check it out), and the color combo from Pretty Palette #53 (yellow, kraft, red). I used the carnation from PTI's "Year of Flowers: Collection" as both the focal and an addition to the patterned paper on the card base. It's a fun way to create added interest to otherwise ho-hum paper. (Plus, I didn't know what to do with the blank space on the two right hand corners). The sentiment is a partial stamping of a random "Thank you" stamp. I used Verve's Charming Oval dies for the sentiment and spellbinders cirlces large and scalloped circles large for the image.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

My husband's great uncle is celebrating his 90th birthday next week! I used the Mojo Monday #238 sketch and the Timeless Tuesday #163 challenge to create a birthday card. I used the "Big Birthday Wishes" set and the matching "By the Numbers" die from PTI. I love the combinations you can create with these two sets, and I love some of the sentiments that come with it. To coordinate with the glittered stars on the front (sizzix die) I used a trio of stars from Verve's "To the Moon."

And as an extra bonus, here's a picture of a jewelry set I made for a woman at our church. She was looking for a black and red set for her mother's 80th birthday. She didn't choose this one, so it will be going on my Etsy site. You get the first peek.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I had a lot of fun making cards this week and ended up really loving most of them. But I think this is my favorite. One of those rare times for me when papers, colors and elements all really fall together well. I started with the JUGS #130 Zipper embellishment challenge--can you believe that a zipper can make such a gorgeous flower?! I also used the rest of the zipper as the "ribbon" strip across the front of the card--and decided that the flower was perfect for the Sweet Sketch Wednesday #197 sketch. And since the card is a 5.5x5.5 size and I was going to have to make an envelope for it anyway, I used the Paper Variety challenge to create a card and matching envelope that have at least common elements. You can see my envelope in the next two pictures.

On the front of the evelope, I used the same stamps as on the card and added a few matching pearls in the center of the green flowers. I think the flourishes create a nice frame for the name to be added later.

Then I got inspired and added "Happy Mother's Day" and a different flourish from the same set. I jus got this set last week. It is Elegant Flourishes by Clear Dollar Stamps and right now it is 50% off because it is retiring! So, if you like it, go grab it up before it's gone. The flourish, flowers and "love" are all from the set. It might have just become my favorite set. Very similar to SU!'s "Baroque Flourishes" (?) set that I have drooled over for years, but it's about 1/4 the price (or less)! The sentiment is from SU!'s "Messages for Mom" set.

Yeay! I'm almost finished making thank you cards for my daughter's birthday. Finishing this one leaves just two more to go! For this card, I used the Creative Inspirations #156 sketch, the Pretty Palette #54 color combo: pink, celery, blue and the Make it Monday challenge: generational stamping. For my main panel, I used a single foliage stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps stamped in three different SU! inks: Pretty in Pink, Green Galore and Pink Passion. After stamping in each color, I stamped again without re-inking (the generational stamping) to create the lighter impressions. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's "Through the Trees" and the butterfly is from an Inkadinkadoo sample set. I stamped it in blue and added glitter pen to make is stand out more.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Ok, it's not an actual photo of my family, but a stamped version is almost as cute! For this card, I used the Viva La Verve April week 1 sketch, the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge to use a sketch (either the one they provided or another of your choosing), the Crimbo Crackers #12 challenge to create a Holiday project showing families, and the Crafty Hazelnut's "Get sentimental" challenge (use a sentiment on your card). The main stamp set I used is "All in the Family" from SU! It has all these interchangeable body stamps that you can use to create all different people. It is kind of time consuming and you definitely need a stamp-a-ma-jig to line everything up properly, but the families you can create with it are limitless (or nearly so anyway). If I had room in my oval, I would have included our dog and two cats, too! The sentiment is from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas" (the charming oval die is also from Verve) and our family name was created with a Martha Stewart Christmas set (along the lines of the Justrite Stampers customizable sets: letters, numbers, phrases, etc) that I got on clearance this year.

Are you smiling yet? These little guys from Verve's "To the Moon" set just make me smile every time I use them. The theme for the Pixie Cottage #114 challenge is "cuddly critters" and I also used their sketch (you can use either/and/or). The yummy glittery orange buttons fit the For Fun challenge to use more than one button on your project.

I don't usually make Easter cards (it is just not a way that we have ever celebrated Easter) but since both the Timeless Tuesday #152 challenge and the Delightful Sketches challenge were to create Easter projects, I decided to give it a go. I think I will send it to my Grandmother; grandmothers are the ones who think to send Easter cards, right? The stamps are from an old Flourishes set. I'm not even sure they carry it anymore. I had yet to ink it up and wasn't really sure about it anyway. But I think it turned out really beautiful. I used the Pretty Patterns #54 sketch and its simplicity left the perfect spot for this large stamp. I actually had to cut slits for the ribbon so it wouldn't cover up the top of the cross, but I think it adds to the design. After I had it all colored, I stamped the musical score strip from Skipping Stones Design's "Timeless Textures" set. I stamped it off on scrap paper before stamping onto my panel to tone down the color a bit.